


Coffee

by Swlfangirl



Series: Happy Sterek Birthday Heather! [21]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, more tags to be added later mostly fluff or smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 10:49:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4703264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swlfangirl/pseuds/Swlfangirl





	Coffee

They’ve been together awhile now. Sometimes it seems as if it was only yesterday that they were basically strangers, taking part in an awkward dance between attraction and mistrust. As much as Derek hates to admit it, it all started, actually, over coffee at a small cafe just outside Beacon Hills. 

It’s not that he ever expected that he’d meet the love of his life at a bar or at church or something equally typical in his hometown. Hell, Derek had damn well given up on finding something more significant than an occasional fuck and the inevitable betrayal that followed. After all, it was a regular theme amongst the people he chose to bed. Needless to say, he was surprised to find that he’d kinda been in love with a young, spazzy asshole for the better part of a few years and just hadn’t noticed it. 

Stiles had definitely noticed, though. He noticed almost everything and even more when it was inconvenient for Derek. 

Recalling the memory, Derek couldn’t help but smile.

“This is yours…” Stiles said, sliding a mug across the table as he took his seat opposite Derek. He was wearing that goddamn red hoodie (the third in his collection) that made Derek feel even more like the proverbial big bad wolf, not that he didn’t already most of the time.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, focusing his attention on the Kelpie near the door. The smell of saltwater overpowered his senses quite a bit. How the others hadn’t seen the resemblance between the “new student” at Beacon High and a water spirit that looks like a horse, Derek would never know. The boy could have easily been a stand in for Seabiscuit. 

“Yeah, no problem. It was on you, anyway,” he answered, tossing Derek’s debit card down on the table. Derek looked up curiously, almost too afraid to ask how Stiles had managed to get his clumsy hand into his back pocket without him noticing. “So, any movement from AppleJack over there?” 

Derek just shrugged in response. He wasn’t exactly sure how well Kelpies could hear and he didn’t want to blow their admittedly small and kind of obvious cover. When he took a sip from his mug, Derek was surprised to find it sugared with just the right amount of creamer. For the most part, the pack always assumed he drank his coffee black, and Derek never bothered to correct them or fix the mistake. It was only when he made his own that he took the time to add anything in and yet Stiles had somehow figured it out. Derek bit down a fond smile and nodded to where the century old water spirit was walking toward them in a teenage body. 

With the confidence of his true age, the creature swiveled the spare seat around and climbed onto it. “How can I help you, Alpha Hale?” 

Derek nearly choked on the smell of ocean salt and death. Fortunately, he was able to hold it together despite the burning attack on his nasal passages. 

“You’re in my territory, without my permission and I was making sure you weren’t going to be a problem.” Derek answered through gritted teeth.

The horse-faced boy grinned widely with a strangely odd amount of glee. Derek realized his eyes were burning along with his nose; something was wrong. He began coughing, loudly as his throat started to close up. He should have realized what was happening sooner, Kelpie’s scents weren’t supposed to be pleasant, but he’d never remembered it being so overpowering. 

Stiles sat relatively calmly on the other side of the table as Derek’s lungs began to wheeze. He couldn’t speak but he was able to hear most of what Stiles was saying on his behalf.

“Tsk, Tsk. Ponyboy. Don’t you realize that better creepers than you have tried, and failed, to execute his Alpha ass? Take another sniff and then maybe you can guess why it didn’t work.” Stiles’ tone was light and unrushed despite the dark expression that Derek had only seen a couple times.

The creature craned his head toward Stiles as if he was insulted by his mere presence, and well, Derek could understand that. Fearful for Stiles’ safety, Derek tried to move closer, to get between him and the Kelpie, but all the things that usually helped him in these kind of situations; fangs, claws, his “werewolf superpowers” as Stiles called them only seemed to put him at an even bigger disadvantage. The water spirit was using his wolf against him, poisoning it with seawater, and something... something else.

“Oh I think it’s going well. What do you think he could do to stop me? He’s barely able to breathe without making a spectacle inside this lovely cafe. Wouldn’t want to do that, would we puppy?” He asked, turning his attention back to Derek for only a second.

“Oh, it’s not him you should worry about,” Stiles answered, wrapping his fingers around the top of Derek’s wrist. He choked as oxygen began to flood his lungs again, pulling the paralyzing scent from his nose. Derek felt his wolf clawing to the surface but he reigned it in to a flash of eyes and one claw extended into the flesh of the Kelpie’s human skin. 

The color drained from the face of the teenager the creature wore. Stiles leaned back in his seat as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Ah, I guess the horse’s snout isn’t quite as powerful as a wolf’s.You must not recognize the “Eau de’ Spark” hiding beneath that human scent.” He laughed, making Derek want to hit him upside the back of the head. 

“I’m not going to waste my time going into the details of what that means for you, but consider it safe to say that if I wanted to, I could grill up some horse meat with a flick of my wrist,” Stiles paused, sending a current through Derek’s body and extending it out the claw embedded into the Kelpie’s leg. Derek felt a little surge of energy sparking through him but it wasn’t painful. 

“I hear it’s a delicacy in some countries.” 

With none of his previous confidence, the pathetic excuse for a teenage boy slid from his chair, unintentionally digging Derek’s claw further into his leg and hissing out a small whine. Derek pulled his hand back slowly, his eyes flashing red once more. 

“Leave Hale territory immediately, I won’t ask again.” The boy scrambled toward the door, trying his best to hide the gash in his leg and the newfound limp he developed. Derek took a deep breath once the smell of fish, salt, and whatever else evaporated from the air. He drank in the scent of coffee, sugar, and Stiles. 

“Holy shit, that really worked!” Stiles said, throwing his hands up in victory. 

Derek just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee, grateful that he hadn’t gone alone like he originally planned. He always argued that Stiles shouldn’t go with him but he’d long ago lost the will to fight with the same dedication he started with. Derek couldn’t help wanting to keep Stiles safe, even though he’d proven to be the most useful and loyal member of the entire pack. Derek was fairly certain if it wasn’t for the way Stiles got under his skin he’d put up more of an argument, but he’d gone on too many “stakeouts” with other packmates and, when he went alone, there was an itch that made his skin crawl the entire time, like a missing piece. 

“You’re an idiot,” Derek muttered, rolling his eyes and drinking in a long sip from his mug. 

“Yeah maybe, but you love me anyway.” Stiles responded, not even a hint of the awkward and unsure teen Derek met a few years prior. 

And there it was. No more dancing around the issue, no more avoiding it like the plague, just a matter of fact. When Derek realized that not only had there been no lie, no blip of uncertainty from Stiles, he quickly tried to find one of his own and came up short.

It wasn’t as if Derek was completely oblivious to the fact that his feelings toward Stiles had changed significantly over the years they’d known one another. As they both grew from boys into men, Derek definitely noticed the difference: The fondness wrapped in his exasperation, the trust given at even his most vulnerable, the heated attraction hidden beneath their rhetoric. He just hadn’t expected Stiles to mention it. Derek assumed whatever it was between them, would always just be this enigmatic force that would likely get them both killed. 

Thankful of any deities that might be listening that Stiles had other plans. Of course that didn’t mean that his mate wasn’t just as insufferable as he expected on the way back to Derek’s loft. 

“You know, this totally counts as our first date.” Stiles said. Derek just smiled and shook his head but didn’t disagree. Glee danced in Stiles’ eyes at the meaning. 

“Scott is going to get the biggest ‘I told you so’ ever!” Stiles continued, happiness rolling off him as he slipped into the driver’s seat of his Jeep. “First things first, We need to discuss pet names. I vote for cupcake-” 

“No,” Derek said, not even bothering to hold back the grimace that pulled up his face. Stiles just laughed as if that was his goal all along which, honestly, wouldn’t surprise Derek.

Stiles spent the rest of the drive pulling out one ridiculous endearment after another while Derek rolled his eyes from the passenger seat. As they climbed out of the Jeep, Stiles nudged him with his shoulder, and Derek caught a faint trace of anxiousness as he said “Der-bear.” 

“Cora already calls me that.” Derek replied. “Actually, that’s exactly why you can’t. It’s weird.” 

“Der-” before he finished, Derek surged forward, pushing their mouths together in order to shut him up. Well, mostly that. Derek had also been wondering what it would be like to finally claim that incessantly annoying mouth, if he’d go quiet or somehow end up babbling even more. Derek got his answer only a moment later as he pulled away from the kiss, heated gasps slipping between their mouths. 

“Der, it is then.” Stiles teased, grabbing his messenger bag and heading toward the door of the loft as Derek felt a heat crawl up his neck.


End file.
